Young Georgia Authors: 2 Colquitt County students win region

The Moultrie Observer, Ga.
·2 min read

Apr. 15—MOULTRIE, Ga. — Two Colquitt County students are among the regional winners of the Young Georgia Authors competition.

John Michael Horne, a kindergartener at R.B. Wright Elementary School, and Lydia Bundy, a third-grader from Doerun Elementary School, will compete at the state level, according to a press release from the Colquitt County School System. The system expects to know the results in early May.

Young Georgia Authors is a writing contest sponsored by the Georgia Council of Teachers of English. It is open to students in grades K-12 and includes all writing genres such as short stories, poetry, essay, research reports, and other forms.

"The purpose of Young Georgia Authors (YGA) writing competition is to encourage students to develop an enthusiasm for and expertise in their writing, to provide a context to celebrate their writing successes, and to recognize student achievement in arts and academics," according to GCTE.

Each school holds the competition by grade level. Grade-level winners compete against one another across the school system, and then the system winners compete at the regional level.

The following are each elementary school's winners, listed in order from kindergarten through fifth grade. System-wide winners are marked with an asterisk.

—Cox: Bre'Anna Davis, Cavion Washington, Sha'Miah Davis, Eva Rodriguez, Noah Deal, Ashleigh Lopez-Lopez.

—Doerun: Cannon McCracken, Carsyn Patterson*, Riley Stallings, Lydia Bundy*, Palyn Rychener, Blakelee Lehman.

—Funston: Eli Guemez, Alan Cardenas Garcia, Jennifer Hernandez Perez, Eli Strickland, Nicholas Brantley, Deina Matias Ramirez.

—GEAR: (No entries in kindergarten through second grade), Mallory Williams, (no entry in fourth grade), Cadence Cox.

—Hamilton: Jaxon Farmer, Miles Murphy, Aiden Bynum, Braxton Davis, Brayden Glenn, Allison Reed-Jackson*.

—Norman Park: Frankie Sarabia Cabrera, Jenna Burkett, Spencer Deloach, Nora Kate Thompson, Logan Nagle, Jayda Harrell.

—Odom: Jhona Garduno, Aaron Gallegos, Esperalda Monita, Abigail Garnto, Maddison Taylor, Leslie Hernandez.

—Okapilco: (no entries in kindergarten and first grade), Mariah Williams, Lyla Carter, Kaylee Benevides, Ji'Mesha Boatwright.

—Stringfellow: (no kindergarten entry), Shaylen Stokes, Brandon Green, Christian Naranjo, Kody Cloud, Shaniyah Bell.

—Sunset: Max Braswell, Draydyn Barge, Lastasia Fuller, Noah Spears, Shayla Giang*, Journey Johnson.

—R.B. Wright: John Michael Horne*, Jack Tillery, Sadie-Laurel Cato*, Savannah Posey, Emily Holmes, (no fifth grade entry).

Beyond fifth grade, all public school students in a given grade are at the same school, so each school-level winner in each grade is also the system-wide winner for that grade:

—Sixth grade: DeMarielle Daniels, W.J. Williams Middle School.

—Seventh grade: Kamry Faulk, W.J. Williams Middle School.

—Eighth grade: Adriana Melendez, C.A. Gray Junior High School.

—Ninth grade: Summer Allbrooks, C.A. Gray Junior High School.

—10th grade: Karen Najar, Colquitt County High School.

—11th grade: Madison Edmondson, CCHS.

—12th grade: Alexandria Eubanks, CCHS.